Tire Firm Pays $17,500 To Settle Suit

December 31, 1985|By Robert McClure, Staff Writer

Tire Kingdom will pay a $17,500 fine and agree to comply with consumer protection laws to settle a lawsuit faulting the tire retailer for ``bait and switch`` advertising and other illegal practices, officials said Monday.

The Lake Park-based firm, serving about 25,000 customers a month through its 51 stores in South Florida and the west coast of Florida, praised the settlement announced Monday by the state Attorney General`s Office.

``We`re thrilled,`` said Tire Kingdom Founder Charles ``Chuck`` Curcio Jr., who appears in television commercials garbed in a crown and regal robe.

``The settlement clearly states Tire Kingdom has not violated any statute or ordinance,`` he said. ``There wasn`t anything left for us to fight about.``

``We`re totally thrilled about the whole situation,`` said Lou Posner, advertising director of the company.

The Attorney General`s Office indicated it sued to prevent Tire Kingdom from using deceptive ``bait and switch`` advertising practices in which advertised specials are not available, but customers are sold more expensive tires.

Lawyers for the state also sought a court order to prevent Tire Kindom from selling goods above the advertised price, failing to give written estimates and charging for unauthorized services.

Curcio said the fact that the state was willing to settle the claim without a trial showed that there was little evidence to back up the charges. But Leonard Elias, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case, denied that.

``This effectively resolves all the issues,`` Elias said. ``We`ve obtained all the relief we prayed for to the courts.``

Elias said the settlement, to be proposed jointly by the two sides to Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Thomas Sholts, will allow state officials to go back to court if they believe Tire Kingdom is violating the law.

Officials at the Attorney General`s Office, who described the settlement as amicable, originally had asked for a $5,000 fine for each of six counts in the lawsuit.

Elias said the $17,500 includes $15,000 in attorney`s fees and a civil fine of $2,500. The $2,500 fine ``was a negotiated figure,`` he said.

``We paid a smaller amount of money than we could have,`` Curcio said. ``Had we stayed in this thing, we could have paid 10 times that much. We had nothing to gain by staying in. We got the vindication we were looking for.``

Norton Tire Co., a Tire Kingdom competitor, is suing Tire Kingdom in federal court for activities that mirror those the state alleged. Norton will not drop its suit, said Brian Goodkind, a Miami attorney representing Norton.

Tire Kingdom officials charged in August, days after the state filed suit, that Norton officials had improperly influenced the Attorney General`s Office. Goodkind said Norton officials did help the Attorney General`s Office, but ``we didn`t do anything more than any other citizen would do.``